The Material World and Natural Religion in Humes Treatise

Abstract

Among the various "sceptical topics" that Hume raises in the Treatise, his discussion of the material world, as presented in the section entitled "Of scepticism with regard to the senses", has proved one of the most puzzling and perplexing for commentators.2 In this paper I show that 1 Versions of this paper were read at meetings of the Hume Society (Eastern APA, Washington DC, 1998), and the Western CPA (University of Alberta, 2000), and also at the Universities of Utah and Toronto.I am particularly grateful to Bob Bunn, Danny Goldstick, Ken Winkler, three anonymous referees for this journal, and especially to the editor (Don Garrett) for a number of helpful comments and suggestions.2 See, e.g., Fogelin 1985, who says that this section is "one of the most perplexing portions of the Treatise" (64).See also Bennett 1971, who notes that this section "is extremely difficult, full of mistakes and -taken as a whole -a total failure; yet its depth and scope and disciplined complexity make it one of the most instructive arguments in modern philosophy" (313).-References to Hume's writings are

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